Dantaé Elliott 2023 Mellon Fellow

Dantaé Elliott is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University. Dantaé has a particular interest in contemporary Caribbean Art and its relation to migration within the Caribbean diaspora and region. Her work examines the phenomenon “barrelchildren syndrome” to highlight migratory remittance and the relationship between a material object which not only carries personal and emotional significance, but facilitates interpersonal interactions. She holds a B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature with a concentration in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) from Roanoke College and an M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature with a focus on Golden Age Literature in Spain from the University of Delaware. She is also the program assistant for the Caribbean Initiative workshop series at the Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies at NYU. This summer she served as Co-Director for the CCCADI (Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute) Summer Seminar for their Curatorial Fellowship class of 2022/2023. She is currently working as an Editorial Assistant for Small Axe, A Caribbean Journal of Criticism. She is a featured artist in Volume 4 of Forgotten Lands, titled Currents of Africa, released in June 2022.

As part of her residency as a Hemi Mellon Predoctoral Fellow, Elliott will curate the upcoming exhibition of Hemi Artist in Residence Nadia Huggins, which will open at the King Juan Carlos I Center in April 2023.